Victoria

I’m a sophomore in high school at Sully Buttes in Onida, South Dakota. I’m into soccer, basketball, and volleyball, even though I don’t play any of them in school. I’m in no major school activities, although I’m in Spanish II. I live 20 miles away from the school I go, to so I ride a bus everyday.

When thinking about Hispanic’s and “Famous Hispanics” one person comes to mind – Selena Quintanilla-Perez-. To me Selena has proven that if you follow your dreams and don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t achieve them, then you can get to where you want, to be or do what you want to do or be!!

She knew she wanted to sing at the age of three, but father would not let her have anything to do with music. When she was six, she sang for him and he discovered what kind of talent his daughter had. So he put Abraham Quintanilla III, (A.B.) her brother and Suzette, her sister, in a band called Selena Y Los Dinos (Selena and the Guys). She sang songs in English and in Spanish even though she didn’t talk in Spanish.

The Quintanilla Family opened a restaurant (Papagallos) and the kids sang there all the time. Everyone that heard her and the group, knew one day she would be a star. Shortly after, the restaurant fell, and the Quintanilla family went bankrupt. They were without a roof over their head and living on the streets.

They soon moved to Corpus Christi, Texas where they put all their equipment and played where they could, on streets, at weddings…..Later, Selena recored her first album, although it wasn’t released for nearly eleven years after.

In 1986, Selena took home the award for Female Vocalist of the Year, at the Tejano Music Awards. In 1990, the Quintanilla family hired Chris Peres to play the guitar. On April 3, 1992 Selena married Chris Perez.

A fan came to Selena’s dad, Abraham, with an idea to start a fan club for Selena. Her wish was granted and Yolanda Saldivar was the President and Selena’s biggest fan. They became very close friends, but later on one of the worst enemies. In February 1995, troubles started in the fan club. People were not getting the things they ordered. The Quintanilla family confronted Yolanda, but things didn’t change. On March 12, 1995 Selena fired Yolanda, even though she was fired she continued to work since there were papers missing.

When she confronted Yolanda again, Yolanda pulled out a gun and shot Selena in her right shoulder, Selena ran to the lobby to get help, but collapsed on the floor while clerk called 911. The ambulance arrived to take Selena but died later that day.

Selena’s death spread all over the world. Thousands and thousands of fans passed by her coffin. The Friday she died, will always be known as Black Friday……….

Even though she was dead in July of 1995 her dreams of crossing overseas came true. If only she was there to see it. Selena has taken the hearts of many fans and their love for their music will always be remembered.